You are called to discipline your body and trust God's character even when the process feels long and painful. Instead of grasping for control or doubting His goodness, look to Jesus as the ultimate provision and sacrifice for your healing. Commit to reading John 6 this week to deepen your understanding of His life-giving presence in your trials.
Thank you, Lord Jesus. You guys stay standing. Let's praise let's honor Jesus. Thank you for who you are. This is your church.
We're thankful we get to be a part of the local body of Christ. And then while you stay standing, I want you if you brought your Bible, I want you to "hold it up". If you didn't and you got your Bible on your phone, just know you're thinking about the Bible app and not, you know, TikTok or whatever. Hold up hold it up like you're holding up your Bible and say this. Repeat this after me.
*Jesus*, thank you for this. Jesus, thank you for this. "I am who this says I am". I am who this says I am. I can do what this says I can do.
I can do what this says I can do. I can have what this says I can have. I can have what this says can have. Teach me to believe your promises. And Teach me to believe your promises.
Help me to know you. Give me a passion for your word. In *Jesus*' name. Everybody said? Amen.
Amen. You guys can be seated. You look great today, church. Thank you. I know it's not normal.
We didn't have a wedding today. We we you know, we've done many weddings in our dream team service of people that were living together in sexual immorality. They started coming to the church, realized God loved them and cared about them, but loved them too much to leave them where they were. And they decided to surrender their lives to him and begin to follow him. Next thing you know, the Holy Spirit's like, get married.
And they're like, we don't we don't have a bunch of money. We're not ready for, you know, a big ceremony. And and I said, hey, I'll marry you in a dream team service. I just want you to follow what the word says in a in a healthy way. And man, we've had, I don't know, in the last 2 or 3 months, like 3 or 4 marriages and just in the dream team service.
Well, and that's when I usually wear the jacket. But we didn't have 1 today. That was the purpose of that. Okay? My name is David John Phillips.
I have the joy and honor of getting to be the pastor here. There's no place I'd rather be. There's nothing I'd rather be doing. I know I say that every week. Some of you are tired of me saying that every week, but I'm not tired of it because it's true.
I wanna be right in the center of God's will for my life, and this is where he has me. And not only that, I want to teach you and equip you to be right in the center of God's will for your life, because in the center of his will is the safest place for you. Amen? Amen. It's also the place with more joy, more peace, but also the enemy's gonna attack you some.
There's gonna be suffering. We're gonna talk about it today. There's gonna be suffering if you're following Jesus. Jesus learned obedience through suffering. And if you if you started coming to church to have a "better day", I'm glad you're here.
It's not a bad bad reason to start and to be here, but just understand, you're not gonna follow Jesus if you're just in it for a better day. You're eventually gonna fall away. You you you wanna go to church for him and to worship him and learn to fall in love with him regardless of if you're if you have a better day or the prayer your prayers are answered in the way that you want them to be. Because it's about him, it's not about his hand. It's about him, it's not about his blessing.
The blessing comes, but you gotta be in it for him. Y'all got quiet. Amen? Amen. I love you enough to tell you like it is, man.
Our prayer is for every 1 of you, whether it's your first time or you've been walking with Jesus for 60 years, we want you to encounter the power and the presence of God. We want you to encounter his love in such a way that you take more steps of surrender towards him every single day. Because that's that's what you do in the Christian walk. It's the race that we run. We're in the Corinthians series today.
We're continuing the 2 and a half year series that we've been in, on and off. And today, I'm gonna re hit a bunch of things that I hit last week, because we went through a lot last week. So my plan is, just to give you a layout for the message today, is we're going to spend about a good 10, 15 minutes of review going through a lot of things, and I'll probably say them similarly, but from different angles because you never know how it's gonna come out. And then after that, the last 2 points I had a 4 point message last week, which I was proud of myself because I sounded like a real speaker instead of just But the last 2 points, we just kinda glossed over in the last 10 minutes of the message. So I'm gonna take that third point from last week and we're dive in to it because there's a lot there.
You guys good with that? Yeah. Well, let's open back up to where we started last week. 1 Corinthians-9:24, father, I thank you for this amazing congregation of people, And I know your word says that the God of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers. So I just rebuke those blinders in Jesus' name.
Lord, in any area of our lives where there's unbelief that has blinded us and caused us to be deceived, where we don't even know it, I ask that the truth of your word would cut away those blinders and expose it so that we can choose to walk, to surrender, to walk in the truth. Lord God, that your light would light up every area of darkness in our hearts so that we can surrender and walk in purity and walk in truth with you all the more today. And everybody said, amen. Amen. Okay.
So we were talking about the race last week. We started in 1 Corinthians-9:24. Do you not know that in a race all runners run, but only 1 receives the prize? So "run that you may obtain it". Every athlete exercises self control in all things.
Not some, not where I feel like it, but in all things. So there's not an excuse not to have self control in any area of your life. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is self control, and you have a relationship with God if you've surrendered your life to Jesus as Lord, and you have the Holy Spirit in your life, which means you can have self control in all things. And any area of your life where you're lacking self control, that's an area of your life where you're rejecting the leading of the Holy Spirit. And so, all you gotta do is repent.
Understand the area of a lack of self control and lean into him, and he's a good God. He's gonna lead you 1 step at a time because he's awesome. Amen? Amen. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
So, we are running the race for the crown of life, for the crown of righteousness. Amen? Amen. That's why we're running. And, we've already, by faith, been given that crown.
Don't worry about falling out or falling away. Watch this. First *1 John-5* and verse 3. No. Verse 4 says, for everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.
When you give your life to Jesus, when you're for real, you he becomes the Lord of your life, you're transformed into a *new creation* in Christ, and you've been given the nature of your father. Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. The things that we're about to talk about are tests that everyone will go through in the race that God has called you to run. And those tests will expose areas of weakness in your life. And sometimes, you will fail the test, and the Holy Spirit's a good God.
You fall forward into his arms, and he reminds you of who you are, and then helps you to pass the test the next time. But also, in running the race, there are some that are running the race that are not qualified to run it. *1 Corinthians-9, again, an imperishable wreath is what we're going for, that crown of righteousness* that he credits to your account from the moment that you're born again. He considers you righteous before his eyes. And we have to learn and renew our mind to the reality of who he says that we are, 1 step at a time.
So I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as 1 "beating the air". Those who run aimlessly, they don't have a coach. They're just running in the way that they think other people are running around them. Those who box like 1 beating the air.
They don't have a coat showing them what targets to hit. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. Who qualifies you for the race? Jesus qualifies you for the race. When you surrendered to Jesus as Lord, he qualified you to run the race, and he gave you the *Holy Spirit* to help you finish the race.
And we continue to run that race by *grace* through faith. You start by grace through faith, and you continue by grace through faith. And grace is God's power empowering you to be what you can't be on your own, and to do what you can't do on your own. You can't run this race by your own effort, and that's why the race that he set you on will weed you out if you're not qualified to run it. Just like it weeded out a lot of the Israelites in the wilderness, because they didn't know God.
They drank from the rock. They were baptized into Moses. They ate the food in the wilderness, the manna from heaven. So it seemed like they know God. But look, 1 Corinthians-10, it seemed like they knew him.
For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud. These are the Israelites when they came out of Egypt. And all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them, God was not pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Why was he not pleased with them?
Because they didn't have faith. Faith is what pleases God. By grace, through faith, we live. Remember, they were baptized into Moses. Remember, in Exodus, I think it was chapter 20, where when we talked about
it last week, go listen last week, but Moses was at the mountain, the mountain shook and trembled, and the people saw it in fear. And they said, Moses, don't let God speak to us, lest we die. You go talk to God, and you come back and tell us what he says. We don't want a relationship with him. Why?
Because they wanted to save themselves. They didn't wanna die. No 1 can see the face of God and live. No 1 could stand in his presence and live. And when you came to Jesus, if you surrendered your life to him as the Lord of your life, then it's no longer you who live, but Christ who lives in you.
You were crucified with Christ, unless you came to him for you. Unless you just came to church for a better day, then maybe you need to die. Maybe you need to give your life to Jesus as the Lord of your life. Because if you haven't died yet, if you're like the Israelites in the wilderness that's just coming for for a handout, or just coming like the Israelites wanted the blessing of God as an overflow of Moses' relationship with God, but they didn't wanna have to pay the price themselves. In the same way, many come to church because they want the blessing of God as an overflow of the worship team's relationship with God, so they can feel the tingles.
They can experience the joy and the peace of worship. They can even hit their knees and cry a little bit, but then leave and go about their life because they didn't have to die. They just came for the overflow.
There's many people that go to church and conference to conference to conference to get the "overflow of the anointing" of the pastor, the speaker, the preacher. And it makes them feel good for a little bit, but just like the Israelites. When Moses was up on the mountain for 40 days, they said, where's this Moses guy? We don't know. And so they made a golden calf.
They conformed what they and called him Yahweh. They called him Lord. They made a God in their own image, what they had been thinking about from Egypt because they didn't really know him. When the the 1 with whom they had a relationship with God through was gone for a little bit. And so because they didn't know God, they conformed God into their own image and worshiped him.
Don't be that kind of church goer. Where you just go to church for the overflow of someone else's relationship, which you drink from the rock that is Christ, but it's somebody else's overflow. You eat the manna from heaven, which is Christ, but it's somebody else that took the time to get in the word and share it with you, which is not a bad thing. But if it never challenges you into a personal relationship with God from Monday through Saturday, then you don't know him yet. It's a personal **daily relationship with God** that overflows publicly.
And when you really know him, then you come to church to worship him and to give out to others, and it's an overflow of your daily relationship with God. Don't get me wrong. There's a time where you're a baby, and you need others to overflow into you. There's a time when you're a baby, and that's important. And we got a lot of babies in our church because we're very evangelistic, and we're sharing the gospel with people all the time.
And God's patient. But if you say a baby and you act like a baby for 20 years, for 10 years, if you don't start talking and learning to hear the voice of the Lord, like a toddler, 3, 4, 5 year old hearing the voice of their daddy, then something's off. There's a developmental issue. Maybe maybe you've been around others that haven't been training and equip you equipping you or or teaching you truth. And my challenge is to go to a church, if you're just visiting from another city, go to a church that's gonna speak to you in truth and love.
If it's just love without truth, it's meaningless. If it's truth without love, it's mean. It's truth and love. *Grace and truth wrapped together that's gonna challenge you and encourage you to walk in righteousness*. But if they allow you to make excuses for your sin just to keep you your butt in the seat, you can't trust them.
We're gonna talk about that. So the Holy Spirit is the coach, as we talked about last week, who helps us to not just box the air because we're don't are not qualified and we don't have relationship with the coach like the Israelites in the wilderness. The Holy Spirit's the coach that helps us to show the targets, so we're hitting the targets in our life. So we're not running aimlessly, but we have a we have a goal that we're running after because we're following the the voice of the Holy Spirit by faith, by grace through faith. Amen?
So we don't just look like we're running a race because we're copying everybody else, but we're running the race because we're in *relationship* with the Holy Spirit. Amen? We all caught back up? We're on the same page? We're moving forward?
You guys a little shook, but ready for more? Okay. So I went into these 4 things and I spent a lot of time on the first 2. I'm not gonna spend any time on the first 2. Go listen to the the message from last week.
It says, now these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did. Okay. Old Testament is a physical example. The people went through physically what a lot of times we experience spiritually today. So we can read it through the lens of Jesus Christ, through the lens of the new covenant rightly dividing the word, so that we can understand, and it can be a warning for us and an encouragement, a warning so when we see the same types of temptations coming, we can identify them and not be ignorant of the wiles or the schemes of the devil because he doesn't want you to finish the race.
He doesn't believe that you really believe that Jesus is Lord, and he's doing whatever he can to prove it so that you quit because quitters aren't Christians. **Faith always finishes**. If you drop out of the race, the Bible says he has no pleasure in the 1 that shrinks back. Okay? I do a lot of funerals.
I'm just gonna say it like it is. I do a lot of funerals and sometimes, if I'm doing a funeral and they had fruit all the way to the end, it's easy. I know they follow Jesus. If I'm doing a funeral and they had fruit for the first 20 years of their life, but the last 10 years, they lived like an unbeliever, all I have is hope because I don't really know. I hope they were just deceived and and really knew him and and shrank back, but at the end, it showed to be real.
"Don't be that guy". I wanna know that I know that I'm gonna see you in eternity. Because faith always finishes. It's a big deal. Now, I want you to be like Moses, Joshua, and Caleb.
Those were the only 3 that we know for sure that we'll see in heaven of the of the Israelites that died in the wilderness. That first generation, they all died. The only 3 we know for sure are Moses, Joshua, Caleb. That's it. Because God wasn't pleased with them.
They died in the wilderness. They didn't have faith. And if we look at that thing that the Israelites as a whole, for our life, every aspect of you that doesn't walk by faith, God's gonna prune out so that you can walk in the promised land of God for you. Every single aspect, even if he has to prune your life down to just 2 little bits. Don't think you can hold on to the things that your flesh likes and still follow Jesus.
No, you can't. He's gonna take you through test and trial, and test and trial. Not because he's mad at you, but because he doesn't like the sin that you're holding onto, and he's gonna do it until you let go of it, or you prove that he was never your Lord anyway, and walk away. Why? Because He loves you, and He loves you too much to allow you to continue in some little pet sin that's going to destroy your family, the relationships around you, and prevent you from walking in the calling of God that He has on your life, which are many.
So these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did. Reminder, desire, d e means of, s I r e, d plus sire. Sire means fathered, **fathered by**. So every desire you have is fathered by something that's been sowing seeds into your mind that you chose to commune with. Whether that's just your flesh and old things or that's an enemy coming and tempting you, which we're gonna see happen to the Israelites.
Don't choose to commune with sinful thoughts. Instead, "take them captive" and cast them out by choosing to put your mind on the things of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, those thoughts will seed your heart, create desires, and if you lean into those desires too much, they will mature into sin. And if you lean into sin too much, it will mature into death. Amen?
Amen. It's just Bible. Just quoting scripture. Alright. This is short.
There we go. So let me skip down to verse 12 for a second, or 11. *1 Corinthians-10:11*, now these things, so what I'm about to tell you, these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction. So this happened as an example to the world, and written down for your instruction in righteousness. Because all scripture is good for teaching, encouraging, challenging, in righteousness, the bible says, on whom the end of the ages has come.
Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed, lest he fall. Meaning, hey, these tests are gonna come. In different seasons of your life, maybe even multiple times. Saying this so you can be aware and not have to take the test over and over and over. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.
**God is faithful**, and he will not let you be tempted. By the way, the Greek word for tempt is also test. So he will not let you be tempted or tested beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the "way of escape", that you may be able to endure it. Everybody say, endure. Endure.
It doesn't say that you may be able to leave it before it's over. *James-1* says that we are to **count it all joy** when we consider when we go through trials of many times many kinds. Sorry. Count it all joy when we go through trials of many kinds. Because we know that the perseverance, that the trial is producing perseverance, and perseverance when it's had its complete work produces maturity in us.
God is maturing you. He's leading you, sometimes when need to be into areas of your life because he wants you to be victorious. But at the same time, the enemy wants you to fail, but he's only leading you there because he knows that you're gonna be able to overcome. But if you don't know that you can overcome yet and you fall, he's there to pick you up. He's like a good coach.
The Holy Spirit's a good coach. If the Holy Spirit was coaching a football team, he would probably schedule an easy 1 for the jamboree. Build their confidence, so that they win, and they win big, like, yeah, it's gonna be a great season. And then he'd probably schedule a really hard 1 for the next 1, and break their pride. So the team goes in, and this is the same probably hard 1 that they're gonna have to do at the last game of the season, but they go in all super excited and then boom.
They get hit. They lose. Like, oh, no. But they realize, wait a second, we really gotta put in the work and understand what it looks like to to win the season. And so then he probably scheduled a team that they're ready for the second game, and then a little harder the third, and a little harder the fourth, and preparing them, and take them back to that first game they lost, the last game of the season.
The Holy Spirit said, alright, you're ready now. It's no less hard, but they're way more strong, and this time they overcome and victorious. You experienced that in your life? You know what I'm talking about? Been walking with him in process?
*Jesus* said to the disciples in John-14, the ruler of this world comes, but he has nothing in me. He comes to prove that I love the father. Every temptation, every test that you walk through is an opportunity to prove that you love the father. And he's not gonna lead you or allow you to go into a temptation or test that you're not ready for. He will always provide a way of escape.
All you gotta do is walk through that thing in relationship with the Holy Spirit, looking for that way out or that way to conquer. And when you do, it's proof of the love for the Father and demonstrates your love to the of the Father to the world around you. Amen? Amen. You guys with me?
Yeah. Alright. Let's get into this 1. It's getting hot up here, guys. It's getting hot.
Alright. So we talked about Now these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. We talked about that. That was Exodus-32, maybe, last week.
Verse 8, we must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and 23,000 fell in a single day. That was in Numbers. I think 24, I'm not go go listen to the message last week on Spotify or on YouTube. But this 1 is the 1 that I kind of glossed over, and we need to dive in today. We must not put Christ to the test, or the Lord to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents.
What is that talking about? Why did God put this in here for our example today, for our instruction in how to walk in righteousness? We must not look put the Lord to the test as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. Let's go to Numbers-21. There's some pretty cool stuff in here.
In the first paragraph of Numbers-1:1-3, the Israelites just had an amazing victory and destroyed all the enemies, so they're coming off a high. Don't consider yourself strong lest you fall. Even when you have amazing spiritual victory or you get to experience walking the purpose of God for your life in some amazing way, don't consider yourself strong lest you fall. You always, even after victory, have to lean into the Holy Spirit and learn from him and know that he's your strength, not you. Because pride comes before a fall.
So they come off this victory and they're about to fall hard. Verse 4, from Mount Hor they set out by way of the Red Sea to go around or by the land of Edom. Everybody say Edom. Edom. That's gonna be important.
You're gonna need to know that. Okay? By the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. You ever been impatient on the way in your relationship with God?
You've been praying for something, wanting something to happen now, and it's not yet? And you're starting to get impatient and wonder what's going on? God, I've been praying for this healing, and it's I'm still struggling, or my aunt's still struggling, my cousin, my daughter, my son. God, I've been praying for this purpose, and you promised that I'm gonna be this 1 day, and I'm not this yet. You ever get impatient on the way?
Guess what? Everybody is gonna be tempted and tested with getting impatient on the way. So if you haven't experienced that temptation or testing yet, you will. And this message is to equip you so that you don't fall in the same way the Israelites did, and then have to repeat the test. Okay?
And the people, what did they do when they got impatient? The people spoke against God and against Moses. Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food. The New King James or the King James version says, we loathe the worthless bread.
Now here's the deal. There was food and there was water. God had given them everything that they needed. Moses struck the rock. Water supernaturally poured out for them just a few chapters before.
He's a supernatural provider. Moses, when the people complained about not having food the first time, Moses prayed, and God sent manna from heaven. And it never stopped falling the whole time that they were in the wilderness until they made it to the promised land. So every single morning, 6 days a week, they had enough manna for the day. And on the sixth day, they were supposed to gather twice as much for the Sabbath.
So they had enough manna for every day of the week. If they gathered more than for the day, what they gathered would turn to worms overnight. Just a little side note, guys. *Jesus* said, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. The word from yesterday is awesome to remember and a powerful testimony.
*Holy Spirit* will bring it back, but don't think what you've learned in the last 20 years of your life is enough for today. You need to have a daily encounter with God and daily get in his word. That's why we held it up this morning and last Sunday, is to reignite a passion for the word of God, so you're not trying to eat off of spoiled manna that you got yesterday. God wants something new for you. Every single day.
So God had already given them water and food, supernaturally providing them. But they said, we have no food and no water, despising what God had provided for them. Why? Because they wanted what they wanted now, and weren't willing to walk through the process with the Lord. Why?
Because they had rejected relationship with the Lord before. They had already rejected the promised land, saying it was too the giants were too big. They had already rejected all of this thing. Why did they reject it? Because they rejected God.
They rejected a relationship with God. They just wanted the overflow of Moses' relationship with God. And once again, if that's you, then you will be destined to be impatient with what God has promised, because it's not about him, it's about what the blessing from his hand anyway. And many will just fall away and walk away, or be destroyed by the enemy. We have to learn as children of God to rejoice in the daily little things he's blesses us with, and know that that's enough, because I'm not just in it for the blessing, I'm in it for him.
Like Moses said, if you don't go with me to the promised land, I don't wanna go. God had given Moses the opportunity to to have an angel go and destroy all the enemies, and just go with him, and Moses said, no. If you don't go, even if an angel were to do that, if you don't go, I don't wanna go. Why? Because it was about the relationship with God.
He is our everything. When you know him, you love him, you can't help it. And the enemy wants us to get distracted even by the promise, and idolize the promise or idolize the blessing above knowing Him. And we have to be grateful and learn that it's about the process with him, and that's why I say, part of my my relationship with God, I say, but God, I don't wanna go ahead of you, and I don't wanna be behind you. I wanna walk hand in hand, step by step, 1 step at a time, and that's enough for me.
Even if the promises that you've told me about real church, about other aspects of our ministry that get he's doing, even if that takes 20 years, 30 years, or even if, like Abraham, I don't get to see them in my lifetime, but my spiritual children do. Because it ain't about me getting to experience all of that. I love that, and I know that's the fruit of relationship with you, but it's about the relationship with you over and above even the promise from you. Do you love the Lord? Or is it just about the blessing from his hand and having a better day?
Why are you at church? I asked you last week. I'll ask you again. Why do you come to church? Why do you read the Bible?
Do you come to church for a better day? It's not a bad thing. Do you read the Bible for a better day? It's not a bad thing. But if that's the only reason, if that's the main reason, then it's idolatry.
You're idolizing comfort and your own ambitions more than knowing him. I want our affections to be for him first. The reward's good. The blessing's good, but it's for him first, and he enjoys giving us those things. Check your heart.
You good? Yeah. Okay. So why did the Israelites I want you to be aware. Okay?
Why did the Israelites have this temptation, this test, at this time? It's significant, and it matters for your life. 1, they just went through an amazing victory, and they're on the other side of that victory. So maybe there was a little pride there. Be aware of that on the other side of the victory, like we talked about before.
Don't let you be prideful in what you've done, so that you're not leaning on the Lord and trusting in him, because our strength comes from him. In victory and in weakness, it's not about our victory and our weakness, it's about Him, and us walking with Him. Amen? Okay. But why?
There's more. Remember in verse 4, from Mount Hor they set out from the way of the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. Everybody say Edom. Edom. And the people became impatient on the way.
Who were the Edomites? Because that plays a part in this. Every word in scripture has meaning and plays a part. Now, let's go to Genesis-25:29. Who were the Edomites?
Why is that little tidbit in scripture? Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field and was exhausted. And Esau said to Jacob, let me eat some of the red stew for I am exhausted. Therefore, his name was called Edom, which means red. The Edomites were the descendants of Esau.
And Edom, a lot of theologians say, well, it's because he was a red man. Sure. Maybe maybe he had reddish skin. That too. But Edom came from the red stew as a representation of his weakness or stronghold that he passed down from generation to generation, and the land of Edom had this fault, this failure, this stronghold, this principality that was over it.
When the Israelites got near, they were tempted with the same thing. What happened? Jacob said, sell me your birthright now. Esau said, I'm about to die. Of what use is this birthright to me?
And Jacob said, swear to me now. So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. You can say like what he was heir to. You're an heir of God. Right?
You have blessings and promises that God has promised to you as a part of the callings and giftings he's put inside of you. This is like Esau selling that for a "cup of stew", for something that would physically please him in the moment because he didn't value what God had promised. So what happened? And Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus, Esau despised his birthright.
What did the Israelites do when they got around Edom? They despised the worthless bread. The gift that God gave them, they despised it as nothing, as worthless. They came around the same principality, the same stronghold that Edom had, which came from Esau was passed down. What I'm saying is when you get around people that they're struggling with things, don't be surprised if you're tempted with the same stuff.
As a matter of fact, be aware that you'll be tempted and tested with the same stuff that people that you hang around. And if God sent you to them to win them, praise the Lord, then you're equipped. But if God told you to come out from them, then you're not equipped. You don't have the grace to overcome. So you better obey and cut off that relationship for a while until you grow.
Come on. Because you you hang out with dirt, you get dirty. Mama ever told you that? You hang out with dirt, you get dirty. Now, what God's gonna do if he tells you to cut off those friendships and those things for a while, what he's gonna do is he's going to mature you so that you do have the grace, you're ready to overcome, and then he's probably gonna send you back.
Because when soap hangs out with dirty, the dirt gets cleaned. Amen? Amen. But babies need to learn how to soap off and soap off others before they can go back and hang out with who they used to hang out with. So just be careful.
So what happened? The Israelites got around Edom, the principality, the stronghold that they struggled with of despising the blessing of the Lord, making it seem as worthless, and instead filling their belly with what was good in the moment. See, this this race, you're in a race. It's a marathon. It's a it's an ultra marathon.
It's gonna be a long, lifelong thing of following Jesus, and if you always have to be satisfied in the moment, you're have some problems. Jesus learned obedience through suffering. Don't think that you're above Jesus where you're not gonna have to learn obedience through suffering too. Because once again, if you're just in this thing for a better day, when the suffering comes, you're gonna be like the Israelites, and blame God. You know the reason that they says that they tested God was because they doubted his character.
When you go through something and you're praying for something, and you become impatient in the process, you're gonna be tested and tempted to doubt God's faithfulness, To doubt his righteousness. To doubt his justness. You know what righteousness means? Righteousness means he's good. His just, just nature means he makes the good decisions every time.
And when you go through something, and you're in process, and it's not happening in the way that you think it should happen, when you think it should happen, you're gonna be tempted and tested, just like the Israelites were, by the enemy To bail out for a "bowl of soup", for something temporary in the moment, and to despise or give up the promises that God has for you that you're not willing to marathon through because you don't trust his character nature anymore. I'm saying don't bail out. Stand. Know that God is right, he's good, and he always makes good decisions. You can trust him even if you don't see him right now.
Rest in his promises. Trust his character, because here's the danger. The reason God, I mean the reason Satan wants you to doubt the character and nature of God in the moment or in any moment where you're being impatient is because the foundation of God's throne is righteousness and justice. You'll never follow a leader that you don't trust is good and makes good decisions. And so in any area of your life where you doubt the **righteousness and justice** of God, the goodness of God and his right decisions, that's a place where the throne, his throne is shaken in your heart.
Where his *lordship* is being shaken. Is he lord of that area of your life or not? Are you going to grasp for control and take back lordship, and say I'm doing it my way from my bowl of soup when I want it? Make sense? Yeah.
Don't do that. Okay? Now, I have about 2 more messages to preach on this, but I don't think I'm going to. So here's what I'm gonna do. I would encourage you, in your daily time with the Lord, I want you to go read John-6, and I want you to think about this message.
You can pull it back up, and think about how *John-6* from verse 1 to the end, all of it, connects with this message. I'll give you a hint. *Jesus says he's the "bread of life"*, the manna that fell from heaven. Jesus provides supernaturally when he feeds the 5,000 in the beginning, and then the people just want more from his hand. But when he says it's him, they walk away.
Go dive in. It's gonna be awesome. Let me make 1 more point though, and I'll be done. Back to Numbers-21. So what happened after this?
They despised the worthless food, the blessing of God that he gave. They said it was nothing because their flesh is always lusting for more because they don't have relationship with the Lord, so they don't have the fruit of patience and self control. So then the Lord sent fiery serpents, Numbers-21:6, among the people, and they bit the people. Who sent the serpents? The Lord did.
The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people so that the people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, we've sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that he take away the serpents from us. So Moses prayed for the people, and the Lord said to Moses, make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole.
That's where we get the the serpent for the ambulances, like, I forget what it's called. Medical symbol. The medical symbol? Yeah. So Moses made a bronze serpent, sat on a pole, and if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
Man, that's crazy. God is a righteous judge, and he has to judge sin, and the payment for sin is death. Well, what happened? Praise the Lord. We're under the new covenant where *Jesus* took the payment for our sin.
*Jesus took the judgment of God so we could receive relationship* and his blessing. *John-3*, right before famous John-3:16. John-3:14. Jesus is talking. Verse 13, no 1 has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the son of man.
Talking about himself. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, it's what we just read. Right? So he must be the son of man must be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have "eternal life". So what does that say?
Jesus became the judgment of our rejecting his blessing, God's blessing, and rejecting and questioning the character and nature of God. Jesus became that judgment for us. He became the salvation to us. So when Jesus was put on the pole on the cross, the Bible says, 2 Corinthians-5:21, he who knew no sin, Jesus, he knew no sin, he never sinned, became sin for us. So he became the serpent, the representation of sin for us on the pole, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
So that when you, being bit by your sin and judgment, look to Jesus on the cross. Jesus took your judgment so that you could be healed and receive His grace and righteousness. Anyone, so that anyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. Now again, believing, it's not just believing that it happened. It's not just believing that Jesus died and rose again, that that happened, and I believe that's good.
No. Biblical belief go read Hebrews-3. Biblical belief belief is connected with obedience, which is connected with rest. Unbelief is connected with disobedience, and it's connected with rebellion and unrest. So there's a lot of people that say they believe that it happened, but their life shows that they don't believe because they're walking in rebellion and disobedience.
Believe. Because when you really believe he is who he says he is, you can't help but turn your life to follow him. And then you have eternal life. Eternal life isn't just for the sweet by and by. Eternal life is also for now.
*John-17:3, eternal life is knowing God and Jesus who he sent. It's having a relationship with him, so you have the Holy Spirit* helping you in the time of the test to hit every target and not just beat the air. You have the Holy Spirit in the time of the run, running your race. You're not running aimlessly, disqualified, but you're in relationship with the heavenly Father by the Holy Spirit because you've looked at Jesus on the cross and believed.